Governor Pedro Pierluisi has indicated that he is not in favor of the Electricity Authority’s (PREPA) proposal to increase the cost of the electricity bill.
“No one wants an increase in light and I am included. Who wants an increase in light? Due to the information that has emerged, it is related exclusively to the cost of fuel. It is not motivated by administrative inefficiencies, “the governor said during a press conference in Bayamón.
PREPA asked the Energy Bureau to increase the electricity bill by 2.14 cents per kilowatt hour, which, if approved, would be reflected in the April-June quarter. PREPA today attributed the proposed increase to the fact that in the first quarter of this year, between January and March, fuel and energy procurement costs increased.
Growth is now in the hands of the Energy Bureau. The governor asked this entity to “verify” whether the actual increase meets the cost of fuel.
“It is a regulatory body that was created to ensure that issues are properly addressed in PREPA and determines who has the final say in any rate hike,” he said.
He said that in the short and long term, the alternative is to “get out of fossil energy”.
“We must comply with public energy policy, which requires that 40% of energy come from renewable sources by 2025,” he said. “The renewable source is not only the cleanest, but it has a fixed cost. It cannot be subject to the cost of raising oil. People are seeing gasoline become more expensive because the cost of oil is not controlled by us. The solution is to stop burning oil and use the sun ”.